Various embodiments of the invention provide methods, systems, and computer program products for routing a communication involving a party in a contact center. Specifically, a treatment is selected for the communication. The selected treatment includes a plurality of range intervals in which each interval includes a value range and has agents assigned to the range interval from a plurality of agents who handle communications placed in the treatment. A communication value is determined for the communication that defines an expected payback from applying the treatment to the communication and a particular range interval is identified based on the communication value being within the value range for the interval. A target agent is then identified from the agents assigned to the particular range interval based on a matchup score for the agent. Here, the matchup score provides a measure of how well the agent is matched to the remote party.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method for routing a communication involving a remote party in a contact center comprising: selecting a treatment for the communication by a computer processor from a plurality of treatments supported by the contact center, in which the selected treatment is applicable to at least one of a reason and an opportunity for conducting communications and comprises a plurality of range intervals in which each range interval in the plurality of range intervals comprises a value range and has one or more agents who are assigned to the range interval from a plurality of agents who handle communications placed in the selected treatment; determining by the computer processor whether the communication is part of an existing chain of communications being conducted between the remote party and a particular agent of the plurality of agents who handle communications placed in the selected treatment; in response to determining the communication is part of the existing chain of communications: placing the communication in a queue associated with the particular agent; and connecting the communication to the particular agent upon the particular agent becoming available; and in response to determining the communication is not part of the existing chain of communications: determining a communication value for the communication by the computer processor, the communication value defining an expected payback from applying the selected treatment to the communication; identifying a particular range interval by the computer processor from the plurality of range intervals based on the communication value for the communication being within the value range for the particular range interval; identifying a target agent by the computer processor from the one or more agents who are assigned to the particular range interval based on a matchup score for the target agent, in which the matchup score comprises a measure of how well the target agent is matched to the remote party who is involved in the communication; placing the communication in a queue associated with the target agent; and connecting the communication to the target agent upon the target agent becoming available.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the matchup score is based on indication of how suitable at least one of a personality and an engagement style of the target agent is with the remote party who is involved in the communication.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining the target agent has a capacity for handling the communication prior to placing the communication in the queue associated with the target agent.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining the target agent has the capacity for handling the communication is based on a virtualization discipline comprising a set of constraints placed on the target agent with respect to what combinations and numbers of communications from different channels of communication the target agent may handle concurrently.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the value range for each range interval of the plurality of range intervals for the selected treatment is sequentially positioned to the value range for another range interval of the plurality of range intervals for the selected treatment.
6. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a priority value for the communication placed in the queue associated with the target agent based on the communication value for the communication and an amount of time the communication has waited in the queue, wherein the communication is connected with the target agent based upon the target agent becoming available and the priority value for the communication being higher than priority values for all other communications that have been placed in the queue associated with the target agent.
7. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions for routing a communication involving a remote party in a contact center, that when executed, cause at least one computer processor to: select a treatment for the communication from a plurality of treatments supported by the contact center, in which the selected treatment in the plurality of treatments is applicable to at least one of a reason and an opportunity for conducting communications and comprises a plurality of range intervals in which each range interval in the plurality of range intervals comprises a value range and has one or more agents who are assigned to the range interval from a plurality of agents who handle communications placed in the selected treatment; determine whether the communication is part of an existing chain of communications being conducted between the remote party and a particular agent of the plurality of agents who handle communications placed in the selected treatment; in response to determining the communication is part of the existing chain of communications: place the communication in a queue associated with the particular agent; and connect the communication to the particular agent upon the particular agent becoming available; and in response to determining the communication is not part of the existing chain of communications: determine a communication value for the communication, the communication value defining an expected payback from applying the selected treatment to the communication; identify a particular range interval from the plurality of range intervals based on the communication value for the communication being within the value range for the particular range interval; identify a target agent from the one or more agents who are assigned to the particular range interval based on a matchup score for the target agent, in which the matchup score comprises a measure of how well the target agent is matched to the remote party who is involved in the communication; and place the communication in a queue associated with the target agent, wherein the communication is connected to the target agent upon the target agent becoming available.
8. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the matchup score is based on indication of how suitable at least one of a personality and an engagement style of the target agent is with the remote party who is involved in the communication.
9. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one computer processor to determine the target agent has a capacity for handling the communication prior to placing the communication in the queue associated with the target agent.
10. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one computer processor to determine the target agent has the capacity for handling the communication based on a virtualization discipline comprising a set of constraints placed on the target agent with respect to what combinations and numbers of communications from different channels of communication the target agent may handle concurrently.
11. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the value range for each range interval of the plurality of range intervals for the selected treatment is sequentially positioned to the value range for another range interval of the plurality of range intervals for the selected treatment.
12. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the communication is connected with the target agent based upon the target agent becoming available and a priority value for the communication based on the communication value for the communication and an amount of time the communication has waited in the queue being higher than priority values for all other communications that have been placed in the queue associated with the target agent.
13. A system for routing a communication involving a remote party in a contact center comprising: at least one computer processor configured to: select a treatment for the communication from a plurality of treatments supported by the contact center, in which the selected treatment in the plurality of treatments is applicable to at least one of a reason and an opportunity for conducting communications and comprises a plurality of range intervals in which each range interval in the plurality of range intervals comprises a value range and has one or more agents who are assigned to the range interval from a plurality of agents who handle communications placed in the selected treatment; determine whether the communication is part of an existing chain of communications being conducted between the remote party and a particular agent of the plurality of agents who handle communications placed in the selected treatment; in response to determining the communication is part of the existing chain of communications: place the communication in a queue associated with the particular agent; and connect the communication to the particular agent upon the particular agent becoming available; and in response to determining the communication is not part of the existing chain of communications: determine a communication value for the communication, the communication value defining an expected payback from applying the selected treatment to the communication; identify a particular range interval from the plurality of range intervals based on the communication value for the communication being within the value range for the particular range interval; identify a target agent from the one or more agents who are assigned to the particular range interval based on a matchup score for the target agent, in which the matchup score comprises a measure of how well the target agent is matched to the remote party who is involved in the communication; and place the communication in a queue associated with the target agent, wherein the communication is connected to the target agent upon the target agent becoming available.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the matchup score is based on indication of how suitable at least one of a personality and an engagement style of the target agent is with the remote party who is involved in the communication.
15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the at least one computer processor is configured to determine the target agent has a capacity for handling the communication prior to placing the communication in the queue associated with the target agent.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the at least one computer processor is configured to determine the target agent has the capacity for handling the communication based on a virtualization discipline comprising a set of constraints placed on the target agent with respect to what combinations and numbers of communications from different channels of communication the target agent may handle concurrently.
17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the value range for each range interval of the plurality of range intervals for the selected treatment is sequentially positioned to the value range for another range interval of the plurality of range intervals for the selected treatment.
18. The system of claim 13 , wherein the communication is connected with the target agent based upon the target agent becoming available and a priority value for the communication based on the communication value for the communication and an amount of time the communication has waited in the queue being higher than priority values for all other communications that have been placed in the queue associated with the target agent.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
August 27, 2019
April 7, 2020
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